Mortgage rates moved lower today at their fastest pace since January 14th. Rates sheets moved well past recent lows and back to levels not seen since May 10th 2013. That was the day that the Wall Street Journal’s Hilsenrath suggested the Fed was mapping an exit from stimulus, which sent markets into the tailspin that was effectively the prologue to the taper tantrum. It’s amazing, or at least interesting to consider that asset purchases have now been fully phased and that a rate hike is a much more immediate threat, yet rates are back to where they were before markets really began adjusting for all that “stuff.” That’s the power of global economic turmoil and a troubling lack of inflation for core economies.
The specific result today is the greatly-increased prevalence of 3.5% as a conforming 30yr fixed quote for top tier scenarios. 3.625% is ubiquitously available, but again, keep in mind that these rates refer to top tier scenarios with 25% equity or more, and high credit scores among other things. The important part is the day-over-day change and the relationship to recent levels. In other words, no matter what you were quoted in the past few weeks, if your scenario is the same, today’s rates are better.
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